Williamston plans $1.576 million water meter upgrade

The Town of Williamston will apply for a $1.576 million USDA Federal loan to purchase 2400 automated meter readers for the town. Williamston Town Council held a public hearing Monday on the proposal. The 20 year loan will have a 2.25 percent interest rate and will cost the town aproximately $8,300 each month. Notice of the public hearing was published in a local daily newspaper. No one spoke during the hearing. There was brief discussion on the project by Council.

Councilman Rockey Burgess said he would like to see a cost study to determine how much the new readers will actually save the town and the return on investment.

Mayor Mack Durham said the new meters will increase efficiency for the town crews by 15 to 20 percent and help determine where leakage exists. “It is a big project and will be a big improvement with these systems,” he said.

Durham said the town looked at going to automated meter readers several years back but decided to wait. He said the technology has improved and that automated readers are becoming fairly common.

During their regular meeting following the hearing, Council approved a resolution of support for the automated meter reader project.